Review of Materials and Technologies Used for Chemical and Radiological Decontamination

The contamination consists in any form of undesirable toxic material that is accumulated, retained or deposited on surfaces, equipment, structures, large areas, and even on living beings, therefore it is limiting the personnel activities and usage of surfaces. After the contamination occurs, the surfaces of the materials and equipments become inoperative and the humans may exhibit health problems. There are certain measures to be taken when a contamination may occur: 1. if possible, avoiding the contaminated area; 2. performing immediate or operational decontamination; 3. disposing of the materials used for decontamination. Contamination control is defined as the action taken to avoid, reduce, remove the hazardous materials from contaminated surface or to turn them into harmless substances. [1] Globally there are conventions, regulations and standards prohibiting the use, research and development of toxic warfare, such as: Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol [2] Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (the Chemical Weapons Convention or CWC); [3] Convention on Physical Protection for Nuclear